Tilak Research

BAL GANGADHAR TILAK’S RATIONALISATION OF VIOLENCE
THROUGH THE INTERPRETATION OF THE GITA

Dr. J. Kuruvachira
A background to Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920)
Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born on 23 July 1856 in an orthodox Chitapavan

Brahmin family in the small town of Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. Tilak’s father lived on
a small salary, which he supplemented with earning from writing textbooks. His
mother passed away when he was ten years old and his father when he was sixteen.
He joined the Deccan College, Poona, in 1872, took his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
degree in 1876 with Mathematics and Sanskrit, and completed his education with a
Law degree in 1879. In the years that followed, he emerged as a formidable political
leader, Sanskrit scholar, writer1 and political philosopher with radical views. Tilak
was greatly influenced by Western thought on politics and metaphysics2 and was to a
great extent a product of English education.
Tilak was foremost among the earlier generation of national leaders who had
fought for the independence of India. He was accused of instigating people to
violence, criticised for his extremist activities and rated among the most controversial
leaders of India’s struggle for independence. K.M.Panikkar, the noted historian, says:
“He [Tilak] was the recognised leader of the ‘Extremists’ in India who considered it
their duty ‘to rise up and fight’ foreigners in Indian soil”3. In fact, together with Bipin
Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and Aurobindo Ghose he constituted an ‘extremist’ core
within the Indian National Congress4. In spite of this, Tilak was respected and held in
high esteem even by foreign intellectuals for his scholarship, but was feared for his
extremism. As a wielder of a sharp pen he used his talent to promote extremism and
oppose foreign rule especially through his Kesari (in Marathi)5 and Mahratta (in
1
Tilak’s major works are: The Orion (1893), The Arctic Home of the Vedas (1903) and The
Gitarahasya (1915).
2
Tilak was particularly fond of Hegel, Kant, Spencer, Mill, Bentham, Voltaire and Rousseau. See
“Tilak, Balgangadhar (1856-1920)”, 118.
3
See K.M.PANIKKAR, “Hindu Revival”, 14.
4
See D.D.PATTANAIK, Hindu Nationalism, vol. 2, 38.
5
At one time Kesari had a circulation of 20,000 copies, which was a large circulation for India at
the time of Tilak. It also had a Hindi version published from Nagpur. See B.G.TILAK, Selected
Documents, vol. 1, 90.
2
English) which were started in 1881 The columns in these newspapers unfold his
compelling, strong and radical personality and militant political views. Jawaharlal
Nehru in his autobiography wrote: “the great and indomitable Tilak who would not
bend though he break”6. Tilak came to be called ‘Lokamanya’ (‘Honoured of the
People’). However, as far as social questions were concerned he was a conservative.
Tilak died in Bombay on 1 August 1920.
1. Extremist tradition in India as an underestimated factor

The obscure role played by forces of militancy and extremism has often gone
unnoticed in the course of the liberation of India due to the overwhelming impact of
Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence (ahimsa). Thus the militant tradition in India has not
been fully explored and remains to a great extent underestimated. What one hears
mostly is the non-violent Gandhi. But there are also personalities like Bal Gangadhar
Tilak who professed a different ethics from that of Gandhi and followed a trend of
extremism and violence, which earned him the appellation of the ‘father of Indian
unrest’.
The re-emergence of Hindu nationalist ideology in the recent decades with its
glorification of violence, militancy, extremism, communalism, religious
fundamentalism and ‘ethics of end justifies the means’, has a long history. Tilak is
among the prominent leaders of modern India who has significantly influenced the
extremist form of Hindu nationalism. He advocated ‘violence as the higher duty’
based on his interpretation of the Bhagavadgita (‘Song of the Lord’), the best read
text among the Hindus7, dismissing in the process the popularly accepted
commentaries of the Gita by Adi Sankara (8th century A.D) and Ramanuja (1017-
1133 A.D) advocating renunciation and devotionalism respectively. Thus Tilak
became a forerunner to many new interpretations of Hindu scriptures, especially
Ramayana and Mahabharata from a militant point of view.
6
J.NEHRU, An Autobiography, 388.
7
Franklin Edgerton observes that the Gita is the chief devotional book of the Hindus. It has been for
millions of Indians the principal source of religious inspiration and it is to the Hindus what the New
Testament is to the Christians. See F.EDGARTON, The Bhagavad Gita, 103.
3
2. Tilak’s commentary on the Gita

The Gita is an episode in India’s great epic Mahabharata8. Tilak was taught that
the Bhagavadgita contained all the principles and philosophy of the Hindu religion.
Hence he thought it necessary to find an answer in this book to his queries. Thus
began his study of the Gita9. His commentary on the Gita, which came to be called
Gitarahasya (‘the secret of the Gita’) was a very influential one. In this work he
expounded with a wealth of scholarship and unimpeachable orthodoxy the doctrine of
'energism' or action (Karma Yoga). He started his commentary in November 1910
and completed it in March 1911 though he could publish it only in 1915. He claims
that his commentary is an independent and original one investigating the purpose of
the Gita and showing how the Hindu religious philosophy is applied to the solution of
the ethical problems involved in everyday life. Hence the Gita is a work of ethics,
more specifically how Hindu religious philosophy is applied to solve ethical
problems10.
Tilak claims that he approached the Gita with a mind prepossessed by no previous
ideas about any philosophy, and had no theory of his own for which he sought
support in the sacred book. He says: “I believe I have succeeded in it, because having
no theory of mine for which I sought any support from the book so universally
respected, I had no reason to twist the text to suit my theory”11.
In the Gita, Arjuna was perplexed about what his duty was, whether he should or
should not take part in a Kurushetra war. If he engages in war, the result would be
committing heinous sins like the destruction of his own clan, though it was the duty
of every kshatriya (warrior) to fight. Thus on the one hand the religion of the warrior
was saying to him ‘fight’ and on the other hand, devotion to his ancestors, preceptors,
love for his brethren, affection for his relatives, and other natural laws were urging
him ‘not to fight’. If he fought it would be a fight with his own people and he would
8
The Gita constitutes Book VI, chapters 25-42 of the epic Mahabharata. Probably the Gita
received its first outlines in the first and second centuries AD and acquired its present form about AD
300. Many Hindu commentators and critics have devoted themselves to the study of the Gita, like, Adi
Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Vallabha and Nimbarka. Among the moderns mention may be made of
Tilak, Aurobindo, Gandhi, C. Rajagopalachari and Vinoba Bhave. However their views differ widely.
See B.WALKER, Hindu World, vol.1, 34. S. Radhakrishnan is another noted interpreter of the Gita.
See S. RADHAKRISHNAN, The Bhagavadgita (1948), 1993.
9
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 4, 61.
10
11
B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 3, 59. But this claim does not seem to be entirely true. He
quotes thinkers like Kant, Hegel, Green, Mill and others in his work. Tilak says that to a certain extent
his line of argument runs parallel to the line of thinking followed by Green in his Prolegomena to
Ethics. See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 2, 118. Prior to Tilak, Swami Vivekananda (1863-
1902) interpreted the Gita insisting on action See D.D.PATTANAIK, Hindu Nationalism, vol. 2, 16.
4
incur the terrible sin of killing his ancestors, preceptors and relatives. If he did not
fight he would be failing in his duty as a warrior12.
Tilak argues that the Gita was expounded by Lord Krishna in order to induce
Arjuna, who was dejected by the idea that it was sin to engage in war with one’s own
kith and kin, to fight. Tilak says that the conclusion he arrived after his study is that
the Gita advocates the performance of action in this world even after the actor has
achieved the highest union with the Supreme Deity by Jnana (Knowledge) or Bhakti
(Devotion). This action must be done to keep the world going by the right path of
evolution which the Creator has destined the world to follow13.
Thus, according to Tilak, what is expounded in the Gita is not the ‘path of
renunciation’ (jana marga) or the ‘path of devotion’ (bhakti marga) but the ‘path of
righteous action (karmayoga)14. By action (karma) Tilak means duty, and the duty for
a kshatriya (warrior) like Arjuna, is to fight. It is his karmayoga (‘special device of
performing actions’)15. The paths of renunciation and devotion advocate indifference
to the world which in effect emasculates the devotees of the Gita and fill them with
apathy. Thus he was convinced that the original Gita did not preach the philosophy of
renunciation but Energism (Karma Yoga)16. Hence he presents karma yoga as
superior to renunciation and devotion17. He says: “look upon your science of Proper
Action (Karma-Yoga) as a most important science”18. His conviction was
strengthened by the study of the epic Mahabharata, the Vedanta Sutras, the
Upanishads and other Sanskrit and English treatises on the Vedanta19. When many
outstanding commentators of the Gita considered the ‘path of action’ as inferior to
other paths, Tilak staunchly advocated it. However, he says that there are also others
who consider karmayoga as the most excellent path, for example, the Marathi poet
Vaman Pandit20.
12
See B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, introductory, 34.
13
14
Karma-yoga can have a variety of meanings, such as, ‘path of action’, ‘way of action’, ‘righteous
action’, special way of performing actions’, ‘energism’, etc. Basically it implies the ‘way of action’
which is one of the three classical ways to liberation propounded by orthodox Hinduism.
15
Tilak describes ‘yoga’ as some special skill, device, intelligent method, or graceful way of
performing actions. See B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, 77. A karma yogi is one who performs skilfully.
See Ibid., 79.
16
See B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, Author’s Preface, xviii.
17
Tilak says: “This I hold is the lesson of the Gita. Jnanayoga there is, yes. Bhaktiyoga there is, yes.
Who says not? But they are both subservient to the Karmayoga preached in the Gita”. B.G.TILAK,
Selected Documents, vol. 4, 61.
18
B.G.TILAK, Gitarahasya, 103.
19
See B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, Author’s Preface, xviii.
5
Tilak maintained that the doctrine of karma yoga is not a new theory. The Law is
so ancient that not even Krishna was the great teacher who first propounded it. It is
India’s sacred heritage from time immemorial21. Karma yoga is the method which
leads to the attainment of both material and spiritual glory22. Finally Tilak tells us
that, though the Gitarahasya could be published only in 1915, the ideas contained in
it he had in mind for over 20 years or more23.
2.1 Gita teaches warrior morality

Tilak argues that Gita has been told in order to induce Arjuna to do his duty, when
he was on the point of giving up. Warfare was his lot according to his duty
(svadharma)24. Hence Krishna explicitly asked Arjuna to fight in accordance with his
caste duty (dharma)25. Consequently, Arjuna did fight and in the course of it, he
actually killed Bhisma, Karna, Jayadratha, and others as occasion arose26. Tilak
argues that, it is enshrined in the Gita that it is morally right to give measure for
measure to immoral persons27. Thus Tilak promotes a warrior-morality and a warrior-
religion. In the Gitarahasya we read: “there [in the Gita] the warrior-religion has
been pronounced [by Sri Krshna] to be superior to the law of fraternity”28.
2.2 Rationalisation of violence

In many Hindu leaders of recent past we can observe a discernible trend of Hindu
self-assertion and aggressiveness, and Tilak is one such ideologue. The dilemma
which many Hindus face today is how to be aggressive and militant and shed the garb
of being non-violent and passive. Should one use violence or non-violence? How to
justify it rationally? How to find foundations for it in Hindu scriptures?
Basing on the Gita, Tilak projects violence as a duty. He cites Krishna who
declares that if everyone becomes harmless, warriorship cannot be continued and
when once warriorship comes to an end, subjects will have no protectors and anybody
20
See B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, introductory, 27. Elsewhere he says that a certain Brooks also
maintained that the Gita advocated karma yoga. See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 2, 127-
128.
21
22
23
24
See B.G.TILAK, Gitarahasya, 1171.
25
26
See B.G.TILAK, Gitarahasya, 36-37.
27
28
6
will be in a position to destroy anybody else29. Krishna says: “Oh Kesava [Arjuna],
that Ksatriya is truly law-abiding, who kills such persons as break laws, ethical
principles, or rules of proper conduct, or is greedy or sinful, notwithstanding that they
occupy the position of preceptors”30.
In the Gita Krishna says: “Better one’s duty (though) imperfect than another’s well
performed”31. What is the duty is specified empirically, and it can even be
expedience. The influence of Immanuel Kant who said ‘duty for duty sake’ as a
categorical imperative is evident here. According to orthodox Hinduism, duties are
determined by one’s caste, and one’s caste is hereditary. Since Arjuna belonged to the
warrior caste (kshatriya) his duty was already determined by birth – i.e. to fight. In
other words to engage in violence.
Tilak observes that the ethics of worldly life is very subtle32. Violence thus received
a gallant endorsement from Tilak. But he followed a subjective ethics delineated to
suit his militancy and extremism. According to him, when needed, one should give
measure for measure by way of retaliation and protect oneself33.
Tilak used the Gita to justify his violent and militant nationalist campaign and
other activities connected with it. This attitude made Gandhi to say: “he [Tilak]
frankly differed from me in my extreme views on non-violence”34.
2.3 Violence as the higher law

As we have seen, it is the authority of Gita which is at the foundation of Tilak’s
ethics. He argued for the justification of violence and termed it the higher law. Tilak
was known as the ‘father of Indian unrest’, an extremist and a relentless fighter. He
saw it appropriate to retaliate with violence, and considered it as good, necessary and
morally justified. Once in the course of discussion between Gandhi and Tilak on
violence and non-violence, the latter upheld the principle of tit for tat 35 and
considered the satyagraha of Gandhi as a weapon of the weak36. Militancy, and not
mendicancy was his call to defend Indian dignity. Hence his concept of swaraj (‘self-
rule’) endorsed the use violence in its various forms including militancy and terrorism
for the pursuit for national independence.
29
See B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, 44.
30
31
Gita 3,35.
32
33
34
The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 20, 371.
35
See The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 32, 195.
36
See The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 15, 32.
7
Tilak took as his model Shivaji (1627-1680), the great Maratha leader, whose
ethics was at times ambivalent, as is evident especially from his treatment of Afzal
Khan, the Mughal General, whom he treacherously murdered. Ivan Strenski
maintains that in Tilak’s case, his ambivalence in the matter of the assassination of
colonial administrator Walter Charles Rand, seems to re-play the same ambivalence
that affects Shivaji. Neither act can be said to have been honourable or forthright.
Both relied on treachery, deceit and deception37. But they are considered justified
since they come under the so-called violence as the higher duty.
2.4 Arjuna as the model in the use of violence as higher duty

Tilak says that in the Gita, Arjuna has been induced to fight since it has been
declared as the best of all paths by the Gita and nowhere he has been asked to give up
action38. Everywhere in the Gita, the only advice given to Arjuna by Krishna is that
he should perform action39. Hence Tilak asks: “If the Gita was preached to
desponding Arjuna to make him ready for the fight – for the action – how can it be
said that the ultimate lesson of the great book is Bhakti or Ghana alone?”40 As is
evident, utilitarianism and ethics of ‘end justifies the means’ are at the foundation of
his interpretation of the Gita.
The result of Tilak’s interpretation of the Gita advocating the so-called violence as
higher duty, was disastrous for the Indian society. Communal violence against
Muslims increased rather than decrease with the rise of Tilak41. Many were
influenced by Tilak’s radical ethics based on the Gita. Damodar Chapekar who was
executed for the crime of assassinating a British officer appealed to Tilak for a copy
of the Gita on the eve of the execution, and the latter gave him his own copy of the
sacred book, and the young man went to the gallows carrying it42. Roshan Lal who
was sentenced to death for his involvement in the Kakori Conspiracy Case (1925) in
which revolutionaries successfully derailed a train near Kakori railway station and
looted the government treasure it was carrying, went to the gallows carrying a copy of
the Gita in his hands43.
K.M. Panicked says that Gitarahasya makes no direct allusion to politics. But the
political meaning was clear enough because of the author’s own background and
37
See I.STRENSKI, “Legitimacy”, 11.
38
39
40
B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 3, 60.
41
42
See S.A.WALPORT, Tilak and Gokhale, 89.
43
See B.S.PARAKH (ed.), Contemporary India, 38.
8
political circumstances of the time in India44. To Tilak it was clear that it was only
through the message of the Gita that India could save herself45.
3. Impact of Tilak’s ethics: rise of militant Hinduism and communalism

The manner in which a religion chooses to interpret its sacred scriptures in conflict-
resolution has far reaching consequences. The ethics of Gitarahasya took the form of
militant Hinduism and political extremism. It found practical expressions in a number
of initiatives which promoted communalism and politics based on religion, like, the
celebration of Ganesh46 festivals, Shivaji festivals, Anti-Cow Killing Societies,
Gymnastic societies, extremist journalism and militant activities. They awakened
Hindu consciousness among many Hindus, which resulted in increased anti-minority
feelings and acts of violence and extremism in many parts of India.
3.1 Ganesh festivals

Tilak was perhaps the first Indian political leader who realised the strength of the
masses. He evolved many programmes in order to bring people together. He argued
that hero worship is at the root of nationality, social order and religion47. Nehru
remarked that Tilak was the first political leader of the new India who reached the
masses and drew strength from them48.
In 1895 Tilak inaugurated the Ganapati festivals49. Ganesh is one of the most
popular of the deities worshipped by the Hindus. The Ganapati movement was
inaugurated by Tilak as a counterpoise to the Muslim festival Muhurram in which
Hindus of the lower castes participated50. Till then, Ganapati festivals had nothing of
a public character. But Tilak succeeded in transforming a simple domestic rite into a
public celebration51.
In 1894 Tilak with the help of the Natu brothers was responsible for making the
festival a public event lasting ten days with music and an organised procession
44
45
K.M.PANIKKAR, “Hindu Revival”, 14.
46
He is the elephant-headed son of Siva and Parvati. In some legends he is the son of Siva and
Durga or is created by Parvati alone. See B.WALKER, Hindu World, vol.1, 176.
47
See Kesari, 17: 22, 1 June 1897, 3 as cited in S.A.Walport, Tilak and Gokhale, 81.
48
See J.NEHRU, Glimpses of World History, 441.
49
50
51
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 2, 230. According to P.Kanungo, Tilak not only tried
to organise Hindu nationalism around Ganapati festivals, but also used it as a vehicle for anti-British,
anti-Muslim and anti-social reform propaganda. See P.KANUNGO, RSS’s Tryst with Politics, 108.
9
involving boys from schools, and colleges52. Songs were sung in praise of Tilak and
Shivaji. Boys were engaged in fencing and other physical exercises. The Natu
brothers taught them sword and single stick exercises53.
Stanley A. Walport observes that through the Ganapati festivals Tilak succeeded in
bringing together the hitherto ignored urban and peasant lower classes, indoctrinating
them with political songs and speeches, drilling young men to march about town in
militant groups and imparting to Hinduism a congregational character hitherto
unknown to it54. During the processions they shouted: “O Heroes of Hind” and
“Adore your Country as God”55.
Often the Ganapati festivals provoked the Muslim community. Tilak wrote articles
in a tone which was very offence to the Muslims, calling the Hindus to abstain from
acting as the bearers of the corpses of Hassan and Hussain, that the weeping stories of
the Muslims in their Muharam celebrations have nothing in them that would awake
patriotism56. In 1894 and 1895 Tilak held special Ganapati meetings in his own house
at Poona and at these songs were sung in which moderate Hindus and the British
government were denounced, and Tilak approved these songs57.
David Smith observes that the worship of Ganesh was reinvented in Maharashtra
by the great independent leader Tilak. Today, the Ganesh festival is the largest Hindu
public religious performance in Maharashtra58. Yogendra K.Malik and V.B. Singh
remind us that Tilak’s use of the Ganesh festivals was an example of the use of
traditional religious symbols to mobilise the Hindus in the cause of Hindu
nationalism59. According to Walport, with the Ganesh festivals militant Hinduism’s
first modern cadre was born60.
3.2 Shivaji festivals

Tilak was instrumental in reviving the memory of Shivaji and setting in motion a
great national propaganda which culminated in 1895 in the celebration at the chief
52
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol.3, 6.
53
54
55
These songs have been translated and are preserved in the National Archives, New Delhi, History
of the Freedom Movement Materials, R II ½ as cited in S.A.WALPORT, Tilak and Gokhale, 70, 319
endnote 20.
56
57
58
See D. SMITH, Hinduism and Modernity, 182.
59
See Y.K.MAILK – V.B.SINGH, Hindu Nationalists in India, 216-217.
60
10
centres of Brahmin activity in the Deccan of Shivaji’s reputed birthday61. According

to Tilak, the Shivaji festivals serve like manure to the seeds of enthusiasm and the
spirit of nationalism62. He saw in this festival a peculiar value for the whole country,
and argued that it is the duty of everyone to see that this character of the festival is
not ignored or misrepresented63.
Shivaji festivals at times created tension between the Muslims and the Hindus.
Some of the articles that appeared in Kesari prove this fact64. But Tilak said: “The
Shivaji festival is not celebrated to alienate or even to irritate the Mahomedans. [….]
We are not against a festival being started in honour of Akbar or any other hero from
old Indian history”65. The Shivaji festivals were also attempts to consolidate Hindu
consciousness and Hindu militancy. Kushwant Singh adds that every time the Ganesh
and Shivaji festivals were celebrated there were Hindu-Muslim riots66. Walport says
that, with the revival of the Shivaji festivals the next link in the organisational chain
of militant Hinduism was developed67.
3.3 Shivaji as a role model for violence as higher duty

Shivaji, the Maratha leader, provided a kind of mythological exemplar for Tilak of
his ethics of violence as higher duty, whose festivals he ardently promoted, though
Mahatma Gandhi considered Shivaji as a misguided patriot. In 1896 Tilak lamented
the neglect of the sites associated with the life and death of Shivaji. He said: “That the
place of coronation and the tomb of that great man who gave the joy of independence
to Maharashtra for two centuries should have been so utterly forgotten by the
Marathas is indeed a misfortune”68. On 24 June 1906 Tilak wrote an article in his
Mahratta entitled “Is Shivaji not a National Hero?”69 He called Shivaji ‘swadeshi
hero’70 and argued that “Shivaji is the only hero to be found in Indian history” 71. Tilak
also began the modern promotion of Shivaji, as the leader of Maratha independence
in Maharashtra. He urged children to read a portion of a historical novel entitled
61
62
63
64
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 2, 231
65
66
See K.SINGH, The End of India, 43-44.
67
See S.A.WALPORT, Tilak and Gokhale, 79
68
As cited in A. SHARMA, Modern Hindu Thought, 210-211.
69
B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 4, 26-28.
70
71
11
Ushahkal dealing with the times of Shivaji72. According to him, what makes Shivaji a
national hero is the spirit which guided him throughout and not his deeds as such73.
But history tells us that Shivaji treacherously murdered Afzal Khan74. Ivan Strenski
reminds us that Tilak’s failure to bring about a method of controlled use of force must
be seen at least partly as a failure of his political mythology. In a word, the myth of
Shivaji sent all the wrong messages to those who might have wished for an ethic of
justifiable use of force. Moreover, knowing about other ambivalent features of Tilak’s
political behaviour, one might conclude that Tilak chose the Shivaji myth precisely
because it was ambivalent: it permitted him to appeal to chivalrous and heroic
elements of the Maratha leader’s lofty character, while at the same time permitting
him to trade upon some of Shivaji’s unsavoury qualities75.
Strenski argues that Shivaji’s killing of the Mughal general Afzal Khan raises
many ethical questions. The ‘great chivalric hero’ Shivaji arrived with concealed
deadly weapons to meet Afzal Khan. At his first opportunity, Shivaji murdered Afzal
Khan on the very spot where they had agreed to talk peace 76. Walport describes the
murder of Afzal Khan as follows:
To all outward appearances clad innocently enough, Shivaji approached the Muslim in his
plain cloth shirt, but under it he wore a vest of mail, and concealed in his right sleeve was a
scorpion-shaped dagger, while the finger tips of his left hand were sheathed with metal
tiger claws. The embrace with which he greeted Afzal evoked the death-pang outcry from
the Muslim77.
What followed was the massacre of Afzal Khan’s entire retinue. Now leaderless,
the Mughal army dispersed and Shivaji won what Marathi patriots have celebrated as
a great victory – a victory won by duplicity and deception. Shivaji’s failure to keep
his solemn word make him seem cowardly and dishonourable, little better than a
sneak thief. Put on to the balance with the rest of Shivaji’s deeds, it weighs heavily
against permitting any honest reader to see in him an honourable man. Hence, says
Strenski, Shivaji cannot be a role model for anyone who wishes to found an ethic of
the principled or controlled use of violence78.
72
73
74
75
76
77
S.A.WALPORT, Tilak and Gokhale, 85-86. According to a report published in October 2004, the
VHP, which is an extremist Hindutva organisation, has started an agitation aimed at demolishing the
17th century tomb of Afzal Khan. See V.RAMAKRISHNAN, “BJP’s Failing Tactics”, 5-6. See also
A.KATAKAM, “A Tomb as Target”, 11-13.
78
12
It has been discovered that many years prior to the killing of Afzal Khan, Shivaji
used the pretext of marriage to wrest control of a territory. After promising to marry
the daughter of Chandra Rao More, the ruler of Javli, he killed More and took over
Javli79. Strenski says: “some of Tilak’s own most notorious public deeds seem to
indicate that his philosophy of political action was informed by the very moral
ambivalence that characterises the myth of Shivaji”80.
3.4 Anti Cow-Killing Societies

Tilak started and used Anti-Cow-Killing Society, which in its original form was a
religious movement founded on the fact that the Hindus regard the cow as a sacred
animal81. Unfortunately, his Anti Cow-Killing Society was regarded as a direct
movement to provoke Muslims82. Tilak did not take part in any anti-cow killing
movement as such, but took advantage of the ill-feeling between the Hindus and
Muslims for which this movement was a symptom83. Tilak took a prominent part in
inflaming the minds of Hindus against the Muslims. In several of his articles in
Kesari he upheld the view that in the anti-cow-killing riots, as in all other outbreaks,
the Musalmans were the aggressors. He praised the spirit in which the Hindus had
stood up to their assailants when attacked and blamed those who held that when
assailed by Muslims the Hindus should flee84.
3.5 Gymnastic Societies

Tilak maintained that unless Hindus learned to employ force they must expect to be
impotent witness of the gradual downfall of their ancient institutions. Therefore, he
proceeded to organise Gymnastic Societies in which physical training and the use of
more or less primitive weapons were taught in order to develop the martial instincts
of the rising generation85. The Natu brothers were recognised leaders of Hindu
orthodoxy. They carried Tilak’s propaganda to schools and colleges proclaiming that
unless they learned to employ force the Hindus must expect to be impotent witnesses
of the gradual downfall of all their ancient institutions86.
79
See A.KATAKAM, “A Tomb as Target”, 13.
80
I.STRENSKI, “Legitimacy”, 10.
81
82
83
84
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol.2, 227-228.
85
86
13
His Gymnastic Societies sometimes resorted themselves into juvenile bands of

dacoits to swell the coffers of swaraj. Young Hindus were taught to use arms and
induced to believe it to be their duty to employ them against the enemy 87. The
teaching which he gave or caused to be given to the members of the said societies
was of such an evil and demoralising nature that with his approbation the members of
some such societies formed themselves into bands of robbers who committed murder
and robbery with the object of obtaining money to pursue Tilak’s political
campaign88.
3.6 Extremist journalism

Tilak started two newspapers Kesari and Mahratta. He wrote incriminating articles
to encourage terrorism. In several of his writings he spoke of the cheapness of bombs
and the economy with which they could be manufactured89. He described the bomb as
a charm and an amulet and a legitimate weapon of political reform 90. He even
considered terrorism as an expression of patriotism. He said: “There is an excess of
patriotism at the root of the bombs in Bengal”91. He went so far as to say that the
Bengalee murders were ‘beneficent murders’ so that, in his opinion, there might be a
beneficent murderer92.
Tilak used his newspapers to incite the Hindus to assert their rights. He vilified the
Muslims and the British93.
From June through August of 1902, Kesari ran a highly provocative series of nine
editorials entitled ‘Guerrilla Warfare’94. Sometimes Kesari contained articles on
methods of the Russian Revolutionaries and the cult of the bomb in Bengal95. He
openly advocated Russian methods of retaliation. Writing in Kesari on 16 July 1907
he exhorted Indians to follow the Russian methods of political agitation96. Tilak also
wrote some articles proposing to the government to make gymnastics a compulsory
subject in schools97.
87
88
89
90
91
B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol.1, 105.
92
93
94
95
96
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 1, 49-50..
97
14
In the Kesari of 28 May 1907 he exhorted Indian leaders to emulate the example of
Russian democrats in their methods of political agitation98. He also spoke of how the
Russians managed to evade press censorship99. On 27 July 1907 Tilak wrote in
Kesari: “We find in Mr. Savarkar’s book a true echo of the thoughts of Mazzini, his
secret and the open attempts to bring about the unification of Italy” 100; “We find in
Mazzini’s writings a clear enumeration of the noble principles of democratic
politics”101.
When Tilak began Kesari and Mahratta he had stated that the aim of the two
newspapers would be to give a fearless account of the existing condition in the
country, to give reviews of Indian books and to give correct estimates of political
affairs in Britain102. But as is evident, his columns went beyond this scope and
promoted extremism and militancy. They became vehicles for his radical political
views and ethics of violence.
3.7 Militant activities

Tilak was the founder of the militant revolutionary school in the national
movement103. He seems to have had connections with the secret societies at Nasik,
Bengal and elsewhere104. He felt himself strong to capture the Congress organisation
in 1907, though it was not successful105. The fight between the Moderates and the
Extremists carried on in the political arena led to a split in the Indian National
Congress. The extremist founded a party of their own. But Tilak said that the
extremist of today will be the moderates of tomorrow just as the moderates of today
were extremists yesterday106. In 1907 at Surat, Tilak and his revolutionary group were
expelled from the Congress for their radicalisation of Indian politics, which included
also Aurobindo Ghose107. The rift was only healed in 1914 when Tilak finalised a pact
with the Muslim League for a joint front against the British108.
98
99
100
B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol.1, 50-51.
101
B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol.1, 51.
102
See D.KEER, Lokamanya Tilak, 29.
103
See MENON, P.K.K, The History of Freedom Movement, vol. 2, 29.
104
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 1, 133; Ibid., vol. 2, 237.
105
106
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 4, 29-30.
107
108
See A. SHARMA, Modern Hindu Thought, 195.
15
It has been argued that in the murder of Walter Charles Rand109 and Charles
Egerton Ayerst110 at Nasik, the assassins were only giving effect to Tilak’s
teachings111. He played a leading role in inflaming the minds of the Hindus against
the Muslims. During the cow-killing agitation of 1893, which caused disturbances
throughout the country and much loss of life and property, He thus showed himself as
an open advocate of violence and the cult of physical force112. Sometimes he
advocated insurrection and argued that the Boer system of warfare which had been
successful against the British, was that which had been adopted by Shivaji aganist the
Muslims113. In 1908 Tilak was tried for sedition because of an attempt on the life of
Kingsford, a British judge at Muzaffarpur. Though the intention was to murder
Kingsford, the assassins missed the target and two ladies were killed. Tilak in his
writings supported the bomb throwers114. This bomb outrage offered the government
a golden chance to arrest Tilak. Tilak was sentenced for six years in prison.
Tilak was convicted for inciting disaffection against the British in his writings in
Marathi. But he claimed that the English renderings were defective. The trial ended in
his incarceration and he was sent to Mandalay (Myanmar) and it was there that he
composed his influential commentary on the Gita – the Gitarahasya.
3.8 Anti-Muslim attitude

Tilak played a prominent part in inflaming the minds of the Hindus against the
Muslims. Between 1880 and 1890 throughout India there was an evident antipathy
between Hindus and Muslims. There were numerous riots and encounters between
the members of the two faiths in many parts of the county 115. He promoted Ganapati
festivals, in the first place, to prevent people from taking part in the Muslim festival
Muharram116. He was accused of inciting the Hindus to assert their rights to play
109
Rand was the chairman of the Plague Committee, appointed by Governor Sandhurst. He was
based at Poona and was known as a stern disciplinarian. Prior to this appointment he had served as
magistrate of Satara District and had passed a sentence convicting eleven Brahmins to jail. Because of
this he was also regarded with hostility by orthodox Hindus. See S.A.WALPORT, Tilak and Gokhale,
83.
110
Ayerst was a Lieutenant who was accompanying W.C.Rand when they was attacked and killed
by the Chapekar brothers Balkrishna and Damodar. See S.A.WALPORT, Tilak and Gokhale, 89.
111
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 2, 240. For a detailed account of the murder see
S.A.WALPORT, Tilak and Gokhale, 88-91.
112
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 1, 133..
113
114
115
116
16
music in passing before mosques117. He even called the Muslims a savage race. He
said: “even a savage race like the Mohammedans did not disarm the Hindus while
exercising their imperial sway over India”118.
In High Court of Justice, Kings Bench Division accused Tilak of several crimes.
For example, in 1893 during the Hindu-Muslim riots in Bombay Tilak took advantage
of the situation to stir up the feeling of the Hindus against the Muslims. He was
accused of using the Anti-Cow Killing Societies as a means to provoke the
Muslims119. According to the report of the Bombay government on 16 July 1918, on
the occasion of Shivaji’s coronation festival, Tilak presided at a lecture on
conscription. In his speech he called the army a mercenary which consisted of
Muslims and foreigners120. It has been observed that basically, Tilak’s anti-Muslim
attitude manifested itself in four things: the question of playing music before the
mosques, the Ganapati celebrations, the Shivaji movement and the Anti-Cow Killing
Societies.
3.9 Anti- Christian attitude

Tilak saw Christianity as an enemy of Hinduism. He said: “Now I turn to the forces
that are arrayed against us. There are mainly two forces of (1) science and (2)
Christianity. If our religion is threatened with any hostile criticism, it comes from
these two”121. Once he took tea in a Christian missionary school and accepted to do
penance for it122.
Tilak was vehemently opposed to the so-called conversion activities of the
Christians. When Pandita Ramabai, a great Sanskrit scholar who became a widow,
converted to Christianity and then set up Sharada Sadan for educating destitute high-
caste widows, Tilak alleged that it was being covertly used to promote conversion to
Christianity123.
117
118
119
120
121
As cited in A. SHARMA, Modern Hindu Thought, 207.
122
See “Tilak, Balgangadhar (1856-1920)”, 118.
123
17
Tilak never really favoured social reforms124. On 30 July 1907 he wrote in Kesari
against Christian involvement in social reform and human rights issues. He said:
Though the correspondence with regard to the abolition of the customs of dedicating minor
girls to the gods at Jejuri and Savantwadi is carried on under the leadership of
Dr.Bhandarkar, it is the Missionaries who are as a matter of fact at the bottom of the whole
affair. It was they who first brought to the notice of Government that such girls led an
immoral life after attaining puberty and that the existing statutory resolutions were quite
inadequate to remedy the [sic] evil. [….] It is not at all possible for the people to believe
that the above suggestion of the Missionaries originated from disinterested motives. [….]
Our hypocritical Missionaries do not seem to know that immorality is not a criminal
offence in England and that the value of the chastity of women can be estimated there in
damages. The missionaries needlessly interfered in the matter125.
Again, referring to Christianity Tilak said: “Our enemies are fast disappearing
before the teachings of modern science, take courage and work hard for the final
triumph"126. He envisaged a time when, instead of Christians preaching Christianity in
India, Hindus will see their preachers proclaiming Sanatana Dharma (Eternal
Religion) all over the world127.
3.10 Critical attitude towards Buddhism and Jainism

Tilak did not view benevolently the Buddhists and the Jains of India. He praised
Adi Sankara of Kaladi who aggressively fought these two religions. Tilak says:
“Buddhism flourished and attacks were made on Hindu religion by Buddhists and
Jains. After 600 years of chaos rose one great leader, Shankaracharya and he brought
together all the common philosophical elements for our religion and proved and
preached them in such a way that Buddhism was swept away from the land”128.
124
To some extent, Tilak was aganist untouchability. He said: ”if God were to tolerate
untouchability I would not recognise Him as God at all. […] I do not deny that it was the Brahmin rule
that introduced the practice of untouchability. This is a cancer in the body of Hindu society and we
must eradicate it at all costs”. Bal Gangadhar Tilak: His Writings and Speeches, Madras 19223 as cited
in A. SHARMA, Modern Hindu Thought, 201. But it is also true that on 24 March 1918 an All India
Depressed Classes Conference was held under the presidentship of Sayajiro Gaikwad, the Maharaja of
Baroda. Although Tilak spoke of the removal of untouchability, he refused to sign a manifesto
declaring that the signatories would not observe untouchability in their day-to-day life. See “Tilak,
Balgangadhar (1856-1920)”, 118. Again, Tilak differed on the question of widow remarriage. See The
Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 20, 371.
125
B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol.1, 51-52.
126
A. SHARMA, Modern Hindu Thought, 207
127
128
18
4. Promotion of Hindu nationalism

Koenraad Elst observes that Tilak was the first to connect Hindu symbolism with
the freedom struggle and he interpreted the Gita in terms of political activism129. It
was during the British rule that Hindu nationalism took birth. ‘The father of Indian
unrest’ was in many respects one of the figures who nurtured it. Tilak was a Hindu
nationalist to the core who made – as Walport says – no distinction between religion
and politics130. He was anti-Muslim and anti-Gandhi. According to Tilak, religion is
an element of nationality131. He buttressed the claims of Hindu chauvinism through
his scholarship. He said: “The common factor in Indian Society is the feeling of
Hindutva (Hinduness)”132. The Hindu religion provides to the Indian society a moral
as well as social tie. During the Vedic times India was a self-contained country and a
great nation united by a common culture. That unity disappeared and it brought upon
the nation great degradation. But it is the duty of the leaders of India to revive that
union133.
Tilak stood for the establishment of a Hindu rashtra in India. It is argued that Tilak
had a part in the so-called ‘Nepal plot’134. The idea presumably was to convince the
King of Nepal to invade India, sparking in turn an uprising within the country in his
support, since if the independent King of the only independent Hindu Kingdom
conquered India there would be one sovereign Hindu nation135.
Emulation of a great past is axiomatic to any cultural renaissance. Tilak argued that
truths that are being discovered by the West were known to the rishis of India.
Modern science is gradually justifying and vindicating the ancient wisdom of India136.
129
See K.ELST, Decolonising the Hindu Mind, 111.
130
131
132
As cited in A. SHARMA, Modern Hindu Thought, 211..
133
134
The ‘Nepal plot’ was a plan by some Hindus in India to convince the King of Nepal to invade
India so that there would be one sovereign Hindu nation. In 1901 Tilak attended the Calcutta Congress
with his business associate Vasudev (alias Vasukaka) Ganesh Joshi (1856-1944), and after the
Congress they met and talked with a Maharashtrian school mistress named Mataji, then living in
Calcutta. Mataji suggested that Tilak and Joshi visit Nepal, where she had lived for many years. She
offered to introduce them to the King of Nepal. Starting the journey to Patna in early 1902, their
intention was to enter Nepal with the Saivite pilgrims allowed free transit across the border in February
to visit the temple of Siva during the festival. However, because of a plague the Nepalese border was
closed and Tilak and Joshi were obliged to return to Poona. Later in April of the same year, Tilak
deputed Vasukaka and K.P.Khadilkar to Nepal where they were to set up a tile factory, as a respectable
front for arms and munitions plant designed to supply the invading Nepalese army. But the incredible
plot was never realised. See S.A.WALPORT, Tilak and Gokhale, 148-149.
135
136
19
He says: “Are not these common allegiances to the Vedas, the Gita and the Ramayana
our common heritage? If we lay stress on it forgetting all the minor differences that
exist between different sects, then by the grace of providence we shall […] be able to
consolidate all the different sects into a mighty Hindu nation. This ought to be the
ambition of every Hindu”137.
The Gitarahasya is essentially a work of nationalist literature than of philosophy.
Through it he made a stirring call to his countrymen to action in order to claim
their birth right which is swaraj (self rule). He argued that in that process it is
legitimate to indulge in violence, in imitation of Arjuna and Shivaji. It is the
motive rather than the action in-itself that matters. In other words, end justifies
the means.
5. Claim of the superiority of Hinduism

Tilak advocated the superiority of Hinduism over all other religions. During an
address in Benaras in 1906 he said: “There is no other religion on the face of the earth
except the Hindu religion wherein we find such a hopeful promise, a promise that
God comes to us as many times as necessary. After Mahomed, no Prophet is
promised, and Jesus Christ came once for ever. No religion holds such promise full of
hope [.…] A time will come when our religious thoughts and our rights will be
vindicated”138
According to Tilak, all the different sects of Hinduism are many branches of the
Vedic religion. He claims that the term sanatana dharma (‘eternal religion’) shows
that Hinduism is very old – as old as history of the human race itself. Vedic religion
was the religion of the Aryans from a very early time. Hindu religion as a whole is
made up of different parts co-related to each other as many sons and daughters of one
great religion139.
Tilak claims that all religions, except Hinduism, are partial truths. He says: “they
[non-Hindu religions] are partial truth while our Hindu religion is based on the whole,
the Sanatana truth”.140. He adds: “Hindu religion is very comprehensive – as
comprehensive as its literature itself; we have a wonderful literature. Wisdom, as is
concentrated in the Gita and epitomised in about 700 verses, that wisdom, I am
confident, cannot be defeated or overcome by any philosophy be it Western or any
other”141.
137
B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 4, 28. (Emphasis added)
138
139
140
As cited in A. SHARMA, Modern Hindu Thought, 207
141
20
In many of his speeches Tilak asked for greater co-ordination of all the sections of
Hinduism under the banner of Bharata Dharma Mahamandala (‘All India Religious
Association’). He also emphasised the value of numbers. He said: “Numerical
strength also is a great strength. Can the religion which counts its followers by crores
die? Never, unless the crores of our fellow-followers are suddenly swept away our
religion will not die. All that is required for our glorious triumph and success is that
we should unite all the different sects on a common platform and let the stream of
Hindu religion flow through one channel”142.
6. Claims that Hinduism is the most tolerant religion

Tilak proudly maintained that Hinduism is the most tolerant religion in the world.
According to him it tolerates all religions. He asks: “If there be any religion in the
world which advocates toleration of other religious beliefs and instruct [sic] one to
stick to one’s own religion, it is the religion of the Hindus alone”143. He adds: “Shri
Krishna does not say that the followers of other religions would be doomed to eternal
hell. I challenge anybody to point out to me a similar text from the scriptures of other
religions. It cannot be found in any other religion”144.
7. Indoctrination of the young through education

Tilak was convinced that the salvation of his motherland lay in education of the
people, which for him had to be English education145. He was convinced that the mind
arrives at a correct or incorrect decision according as it has been educated 146. In a
speech delivered 1908 he spoke of the need for national education and religious
education. He said: “We are not given such education as may inspire patriotic
sentiments among us”147; “We must have education on national lines, and for this
there must be schools fully under the control of national leaders”148; “Of the many
things that we will do there, religious education will first and foremost engage our
attention. Secular education only is not enough to build up character”149.
142
143
144
As cited in A. SHARMA, Modern Hindu Thought, 206-207.
145
See D.V. TAHMANKAR, Lokamanya Tilak: Father of Indian Unrest and Maker of Modern
India, London, 1956, as cited in A. Sharma, Modern Hindu Thought, 193.
146
See B.G.TILAK, Gitarahasya,177.
147
B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 4, 49..
148
149
B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 4, 50 (Emphasis in the original).
21
According to Tilak the want of religious education is one of the causes that have
brought the Christian missionary influence all over the country150. For the promotion
of national and religious education, he first thought of establishing private schools on
the model of the missionary institutions. Then he succeeded in founding the New
English School without any help from the government, thereby establishing a model
of education of the Indians for the Indians and by the Indians151.
Tilak envisaged a Hindu university for Hindus. He said: “The idea of a Hindu
University where our old religion will be taught along with modern science is a very
good one and should have the support of all”152.
The success of Tilak’s New English School paved way for its conversion into a
public body called the Deccan Education Society under whose auspices the Ferguson
College was founded (1885) for training educational missionaries for all of
Maharashtra. Later, due to a conflict related to the management Tilak resigned.
8. A critical evaluation of Tilak’s philosophy

Tilak created a revolution in the world of ethics with his Gitarahasya. It had far
reaching consequences in the field of religion, politics, relationship with religious
minorities and national struggle for independence. Below we take a critical look at his
ethical views and its impact on the Hindutva ideology which is in vogue.
K.M.Panikkar observes that it is Tilak’s Gitarahasya which marked the change in
Indian political scenario. He showed for the first time that the message of the Gita
was not renunciation as others had thought before, but it was essentially a scripture
preaching a doctrine of social activism where action for human good without personal
attachment is preached as the first imperative153.
8.1 Subjective interpretation of the Gita

Richard Charles Zaehner says that in interpreting the Gita, as in interpreting any
sacred text, the danger is that the interpreter will quote all that is grist to his mill
while failing to draw attention to what embarrasses him in other parts of the text154.
Tilak introduced a new trend in the reading of scriptures with his Gitarahasya,
namely, that of giving a subjective interpretation to the Hindu scriptures in order to
150
151
See D.V. TAHMANKAR, Lokamanya Tilak: Father of Indian Unrest and Maker of Modern
India, London, 1956 as cited in A. Sharma, Modern Hindu Thought, 193.
152
153
154
See R.C.ZAEHNER, The Bhagavad Gita, 4.
22
give foundation for his concept of violence as higher duty. It is said that ‘what one
ought to do’ is the problem of morality. The Gita says that what ought to be done is
one’s caste duty. If we follow Tilak’s Gitarahasya the caste duty consists in action
which may involve also violence, and it is fully justified. This is of course abuse of
caste power.
The traditional Hindu texts like the Gita took on unprecedented importance with
Tilak’s Gitarahasya. The Gita became for the Hindu reformers a kind of counter
Bible. Consequently many translations of the Gita were sponsored throughout the
subcontinent in various languages. Until the advent of Tilak, the interpretations given
to the Gita never really advocated violence. Many of the great Hindu reformers felt
compelled to compose their own ‘reading’ or commentary of it. Thus not only do we
hear from the more spiritual reformers such as, Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902),
Sarveppalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) or Vinoba Bhave (1895-1994) but also men
of action like Gandhi. But their concept of karma yoga differed from Tilak’s.
The great commentators of the Gita preferred non-violence than violence. Some
saw in the Gita action for social reform, others action for political independence, and
some others saw in it a call to take up arms. For the most part, the overwhelming
majority of commentators read the Gita non-violently, as a spiritual or moral allegory
and the desire to avoid violence was ever present. Many made allegorical readings of
the battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Gandhi saw the Mahabharata
itself as a ‘great anti-war epic’ and Krishna’s conversation with Arjuna as imaginary.
This interpretation became the dominant reading of the Gita during the twentieth
century. But with Tilak it was different.
In his own time Gandhi had rejected the views of Tilak. He said: “I do not find
myself in agreement with everything he [Tilak] says”155; “What we need to consider
is whether Indians should accept the views of Mr.Tilak and his party. We submit,
after great deliberation, that Mr.Tilak’s views should be rejected”156.
K.M.Panikkar tells us that the British government was not unaware of the dynamite
that the Gita contained, for long before Tilak’s Gitarahasya had been published, he
had been preaching its message. The authorities even considered seriously the
question of proscribing the Gita; but a holy book which the Hindu masses use as daily
155
The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 88, 173. But Gandhi had the magnanimity to say:
“He [Tilak] lived for swaraj and he died muttering the swaraj mantra”. Ibid., vol. 19, 510; “Though
Mr.Tilak and other great Indians like him differ from us, we should continue to hold them in the
highest esteem [….] Since they are great patriots, we must consider no honour too great for them”.
Ibid., vol. 8, 419.
156
23
prayer and which has been translated into every Indian language could not be
proscribed as a seditious volume157.
8.2 Divine sanction to violence

Tilak’s interpretation of the Gita was an attempt to find justification for violence
and militancy in the Hindu scriptures. An action may involve violence. But when that
action is seen as a duty, violence becomes unavoidable and necessary. Tilak goes a
step further and gives it a divine sanction. He presents Krishna as the new law-giver.
This makes his ethics even more dangerous and diabolic. Thus violence becomes a
religious activity, an obligation (dharma) for all Hindus and salvation is to be
achieved through it. This makes us raise two pertinent questions: can a subjective
interpretation of sacred scripture to rationalise violence be justified? Can such an
interpretation be declared as divinely sanctioned? As we have seen above, according
to Tilak, both are possible.
Tilak’s ethics has been a great attraction for many Hindutva ideologues and
organisations of modern and contemporary India. Hindu sacred scriptures like the
Bhagavadgita, Ramayana and Mahabharata and even some Puranas are liberally
interpreted in order to justify militancy, violence and extremism aganist both real and
imaginary enemies in many parts of India. Ashis Nandy is correct to some extent
when he says that South Asian gods and goddesses, like their Hellenistic
counterparts, can sometimes be found on the wrong side of morality and law158.
Many modern and contemporary Hindutva ideologues were inspired by Tilak’s
interpretation of the Gita. For example, M.S.Golwalkar, who was the leader of the
RSS from 1940 to 1973 said: “Our Philosophy teaches us to fight with all our
strength, […] Sri Krishna commands Arjuna to fight, […] and in a spirit of doing
one’s duty unwaveringly”159.
Aurobindo said: “It is an error to think that the heights of religion are above the
struggles of this world. The recurrent cry of Sri Krishna to Arjuna insists on the
struggle: ‘Fight and overthrow thy opponents’”160.
Pravin Togadia, a prominent leader of the VHP says: “during the Mahabharata, did
God ask Arjuna not to fight, did God talk to Arjun about Ahimsa? What had Krishna
Bhagawan said? Fight. [….] He told Arjuna to kill Karna. This is what Kyshtriya [sic]
157
158
See A. NANDY, Bonfire of Creeds, 142.
159
M.S.GOLWALKAR, Bunch of Thoughts, 342.
160
AUROBINDO, India’s Rebirth, ,51.
24
blood is made up of. Karna was killed. Did anyone tell Krishna that he had followed a
path of adharma?”161.
There is nothing as dangerous as giving divine sanction to violence. It easily
convinces the naive and the ignorant to indulge in violence as there is merit attached
to it. It makes the criminals to commit violence with religious fervour.
Many instances of communal violence in India are violence justified by religion. In
1992 those who died during the kar seva in order to demolish the Babri mosque are
considered as martyrs. On 6 December 1992 at Ayodhya in the midst of the hysterical
cries of the karsevaks, Jai siya Ram the Babri mosque was razed to the ground. The
attack on a century-old Christian Girl’s school at Rajkot on 20 June 1998 was carried
out amidst shouting slogans of Jai Shri Ram. The same slogan was heard when the
Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were burned alive in Orissa
in 1999162. When the Muslims women were being gang raped at Godhra in Gujarat in
early 2002 the rapists shouted har har Mahadev163.
Religious sanction to violence helps militants and extremists to plan to the finest
details the execution of their misdeeds. Thus acts of violence become a sort of sacred
ritual, the criminals assume the role of high priests and what is promised to the
accomplices in the crime is merit.
8.3 Justification of Hindu militancy

Tilak represented a militant version of Hinduism164. He argues that Hinduism is a
warrior-religion with a warrior-morality. Lord Krishna did not send Arjuna to the
woods as a mendicant or make a sanyasin out of him, filling his mind with apathy165.
He did not place in his hands cymbals or drum or harp but bow and arrows166. His
advice to Arjuna was to fight: “therefore, O Arjuna, fight” 167; ”therefore, determine to
fight and rise”168; ‘therefore, think of me [Krishna] and fight”169; “the doer and the
causer of everything is I myself [Krishna], and you [Arjuna] are only the tool; and
161
“Against the Law”, 10. (From the video recording of Pravin Togadia’s entire speech in Hindi,
translated into English by Teesta Setalvad).
162
See S.SARKAR, “Hindutva and the Question of Conversions”, 74-75. See also P.SAHGAL –
K.WALLA, “Losing Control?”, 18.
163
See P.BIDWAI, “For Justice in Gujarat”, 122.
164
See Y.K.MAILK – V.B.SINGH, Hindu Nationalists in India, 218.
165
166
167
Gita, 2,18 as in B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, introductory, 36.
168
Gita, 3, 37 as in B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, introductory, 35.
169
Gita, 8,7 as in B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, introductory, 36.
25
therefore, fight and conquer your enemies”170. Tilak reminds us that Arjuna did really
fight, and in the course of the fight he actually killed Bhisma, Karna, Jayadratha, and
others as occasion arose171. In other words, according to Tilak, in modern terms, a true
patriot is one who holds the Gita on the one hand and pistol on the other.
Gandhi once remarked that Tilak seems to have said that in our language we have
no word corresponding to conscience. Therefore, he rejected the idea of conscience172.
Gandhi was of the opinion that Tilak missed the inner meaning of the Gita when he
used it to justify violence. He says: “But I have often felt that he [Tilak] has not
understood the age-old spirit of India, has not understood her soul”173, which
according to Gandhi, is non-violence (ahimsa).
During the trial of Tilak the judge said the following about him in the sentence he
delivered: “It seems to me that it must be a diseased mind, a most perverted mind,
that could say that the articles which you have written are legitimate weapons in
political agitation. They are seething with sedition; they breathe violence; they speak
of murder with approval, and the cowardly and atrocious act of committing murder
with bombs not only seems to meet with your approval, but you hail that advent of
the bomb in India as if something had come to India for good”174.
Violence is energy and talents wasted. The Judge added: “you [Tilak] are a man of
undoubted talents and great power and influence. Those talents and influence if used
for the good of your country would have been instrumental in brining about a great
deal of happiness for those very people whose cause you expouse”175.
Thus, as K.M.Panikkar observes, the terrorists and other political groups which
worked for revolution believed frankly in violence and elevated it to a creed176, and
with the beginning of the twentieth century a new type of nationalism which believed
in revolutionary methods emerged. The leaders of this new movement were Tilak in
Western India and Aurobindo Ghose in Bengal177.
8.4 Ethical relativism and intrinsic goodness of violence

The Gitarahasya advocates ethical relativism. Tilak believed in the principle of
‘end justifies the means’ which implies only that one’s motives should be untainted
170
Gita, 11, 33 as in B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, introductory, 36.
171
172
See The collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 37, 267.
173
The collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 37, 261.
174
175
176
See K.M.PANIKKAR, “Impact of Europe”, 21.
177
See K.M.PANIKKAR, “A Primer of India”, 27.
26
by selfish interest and passion178. The method does not matter. In other words, it is the
motivation rather than the action in-itself which is important in determining
culpability. He says: “‘The Reason (buddhi) is of greater importance than the Action’
[.…] If one considers only the external Action, it is often misleading” 179. Thus an
action may be sinful. But from the fact that the external action is bad, one cannot
draw the conclusion that the reason must also be bad.
Similarly with regard to truth. Under certain circumstances one has a higher
obligation to lie. Tilak says: “telling a lie has been found, after mature deliberation, to
be much better than speaking the truth”180; “There is no sin in speaking the untruth on
the following five occasions, namely, if in jock [sic] or while speaking with women
or at the time of marriage, or if your life is in danger, or for protecting your own
property”181. It is stated in the Vedas that even gods themselves broke the pledges
made by them182. There is then, in the strict sense, nothing called truth, justice,
honesty, fairplay, charity, and the like. What exists is ethics of expediency.
Everything is, therefore, relative. D.D.Pattanaik a pro-Hindutva writer admits: “Tilak
was ready to condone occasional acts of terrorist violence on grounds of
expediency”183. But the paradox is that, according to Tilak, even though one indulges
in terrorist violence it may not be considered as sin so that one can still attain final
liberation (moksa). He says: “the Gita has propounded the device of performing
Action in such a way that one ultimately attains Release without committing sin”184.
Concerning the ethical problem involved in the killing Afzal Khan by Shivaji
through treachery, Tilak said that great men are above the common principles of
morality. Krishna preached in the Gita that we have the right even to kill our own
guru and our kinsmen185. Tilak openly approved the use of bomb as a legitimate
weapon in political agitation186. He wrote articles in defence and justification of
political assassinations187. He was accused of the offence of forgery by fraudulently
altering documents188. He came to be considered as the chief conspirator against the
British government.
178
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 3, 65
179
B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya,120.
180
B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, 47.
181
B.G. TILAK, Gitarahasya, 51.
182
183
D.D.PATTANAIK, Hindu Nationalism, vol. 2, 37.
184
B.G.TILAK, Gitarahasya, Author’s preface, xx.
185
See Kesari 17, 24, 15 June 1897, 3, as cited in S.A.Walport, Tilak and Gokhale, 86-87.
186
187
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 3, 12-13, 15.
188
27
Here, it may be argued that the ethics of Tilak has a counterpart in Chanakya
(Kautilya, 4th century B.C) who wrote a treatise on statecraft entitled Arthasastra
which contained a code of conduct for rulers that justified force, cunning and
ruthlessness and endorsed real politic and dismissed considerations of morality in
public life, which ranged from spying to assassination189.
Gandhi could never agree with Tilak on an ethics of this kind. K.M.Panikkar says:
“To Gandhiji it was not sufficient that the ideal should be Lok Samgraha or the
welfare of all. It was even more important that the means should be ethically right
[…] it must be uncontaminated not merely by selfishness but by anything which
injures others”190. Gandhi says: “After many a frank chat with the Lokamanya I had
come to see that on some vital matter we could never agree [….] I only know that we
fundamentally differed”191; “I cannot claim the honour of being the follower of the
late Lokamanya [….] I am conscious that my method is not Mr.Tilak’s method”192.
According to Gandhi both the end as well as the means to achieve it should be good
and only then an action can be said to be good. He further stated that even if one’s
‘inner voice’ tells one to do an evil act one should not do it: “If a voice told a thief,
‘kill that girl, cut off her limbs and take away her jewellery’, I would not say it was
the still small voice within. It would be sheer wickedness”193.
Ivan Strenski says that the ethic of action in the Gita is employed to guide the use
of public violence in political matters. The Gita, and the Mahabharata, of which it
forms a portion, are about war. The straightforward literal injunction of the Gita is to
fight, and to fight to death. Thus Krishna urges the reluctant Arjuna to rally his
courage and fight. This will surprise those familiar only with the more ‘spiritual’
interpretations of the Gita194.
Tilak’s ethics propounded in the Gitarahasya is subjective, relative, dubious,
ambivalent and machiavellian. He harbours on the idea that violence is a simple
thing, a mere performance of caste duty. But violence in any form is self-defeating
and it always involves irrationality, however lofty the motives may be. Violence
simply works on the principle that ‘end justifies the means’. This was the ethics of the
Nazis195.
189
See T.J.S.GEORGE, The Enquire Dictionary, 28.302. See also S.R.GOYAL, The Kautilya
Arthasastra, 166-174.
190
K.M.PANIKKAR, “Hindu Revival”, 16.
191
The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 22, 461-462.
192
193
194
195
For example, Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s right hand man, said: “jedes Mittel recht ist, diese
Ketten der Sklaverei zu zerbrechen”(‘any means is right to break the shackles of slavery [of the
German nation]. Goebbels Reden 1932-1939, Band 1, 1.
28
Often violence is motivated and pre-meditated and carefully planned. It is irrational

in the domain of motivation as well as in the results it produces. The best example for
this is the Godhra pogrom of February-March 2002 in the State of Gujarat. Kushwant
Singh says that during the Godhra massacre armed mobs were out in different parts of
Gujarat with detailed lists of Muslim homes and establishments. Several hundred
Muslims were hacked to death or burnt alive, women raped, homes and shops looted
and burnt. Not only did the police remain inert, when the army arrived on the scene it
was not deployed. Officers who tried to do their duty and foil the plans of the mobs
were transferred out196. Arundhati Roy says about the Gujarat massacre: “The leaders
of the mob had computer-generated cadastral lists marking out Muslim homes, shops,
business and even partnerships. They had mobile phones to co-ordinate the action.
They had trucks loaded with thousands of gas cylinders, hoarded weeks in advance,
which they used to blow up Muslim commercial establishments. They had not just
police protection and police connivance, but also covering fire”197. If Tilak were to be
alive today, he would have, in all likelihood, endorsed the communal pogrom of
Gujarat which was meticulously planned and executed.
8.5 Influence on the Hindutva movement

In Tilak, Hindu religion invaded the domain of politics. He was an icon of religio-
centric politics in his time. But he was eclipsed by Gandhi in the leadership of the
Congress Party. This political displacement of Tilak corresponded with what seemed
the virtually final eclipse of his reading of the Gita as well198. But it was not so. On 30
January 1948 Nathuram Godse (1912-1949) fired three shots at point blank range at
Gandhi. The assassin after firing the shots raised his hand with the gun and called for
the police. He voluntarily surrendered to the authorities199. The Hindu Mahasabha
celebrated the event by distributing sweets200. Godse later said that he had done his
duty like Arjuna in the Mahabharata whom Krishna advised to kill his own relatives
because they were evil201. He had also read Tilak’s writings202.
Godse exhibited a surprisingly serene composure after the murder and showed his
legal skill and self-confidence in the way in which he argued his case in English, a
language he supposedly did not know well. Ashis Nandy says that it was as if the
196
See K.SINGH, The End of India, 28-29.
197
A.ROY, “Gujart, Fascism and Democracy”, 32.
198
199
See N.GODSE, Why I Assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, 5.
200
See “At Last they Got Him”, 31.
201
See GODSE, Gandhihatya ani Mee, 46, 221 as cited in A. Nandy, Bonfire of Creeds, 87.
202
See T.GHOSH, The Gandhi Murder Trial, 25.
29
assassination gave meaning and drive to a life which otherwise was becoming
increasingly prosaic203. Godse was extremely religious. He read into the Gita with his
martial background. For him Krishna was speaking to Arjuna about real battles and
not allegorical battles fought in the inner self. Tilak’s ethics of intrinsic goodness of
violence had once again come back to life. It was once again seen as a sacred duty of
the patriots of the Hindu rashtra.
Gandhi was denounced by Hindutva ideologues for preaching and practising the
doctrine of ahimsa (non-violence) in the most ‘perverted form’. He was killed by a
Hindu for having undermined and betrayed Hindu India204. Gopal Godse, brother of
Nathuram Godse says: ‘Our motive was not to achieve control of the government; …
we were simply trying to rid the nation of someone who had done and was doing
great harm to it. He had consistently insulted the Hindu nation and had weakened it
by his doctrine of ahimsa”205. Patrick Nair reports that at Nagpur the RSS have built a
shrine in honour of Godse. While visiting Nagpur in the 1980s he wandered into the
RSS complex and found a shrine dedicated to Nathuram Godse. It had a plaque with
the message that one day when the Hindu nationalists come to power a far more
fitting memorial would be erected206.
Prior to 30 January 1948, there had been five known unsuccessful attempts to kill
Gandhi, all of them except one in Maharashtra – the land of Tilak. The first was in
Poona in June 1934 when Gandhi was engaged in an anti-untouchability campaign
there. The second, in July 1944, at Panchgani where Nathuram Godse, dressed in a
Nehru shirt, pyjama and jacket, rushed towards Gandhi brandishing a dagger in his
hand and shouting anti-Gandhi slogans. But he was overpowered by the people
around Gandhi. The third, in September 1944, at Sevagram which also involved
Godse along with some others. The fourth, in June 1946, near Poona when some
unknown persons tried to derail the train in which Gandhi was travelling. The fifth,
on 20 January 1948 in New Delhi which involved a bomb attack207.
The unprecedented growth of the RSS and its affiliates and the upsurge of
militancy among the Hindus should be seen as one of the effects of the re-reading of
Tilak’s interpretation of the Gita. Following Tilak’s example many Hindutva
ideologues and organisations are now giving new interpretations not only to the Gita
but also to other sacred books of the Hindus like, the Ramayana and Mahabharata
and even Puranas in order to rationalise violence as a means to promote Hindu
203
204
See V.S.NAIPAUL, India: A Wounded Civilisation, 156.
205
Interview with Gopal Godse in Pune on 13 May 1969 as cited in W. K. ANDERSEN – S. D.
DAMLE, The Brotherhood in Saffron, 50-51
206
See P.Nair, “RSS’ Godse Shrine”, 47.
207
“At last they Got Him”, 29-31. See also NANDY, Bonfire of Creeds, 70.
30
cultural nationalism. Referring to Mahabharata – of which the Gita forms a part –

Rajmohan Gandhi says that the epic is a story of unending revenge and violence208.
In his own time Tilak became the guru of V.D.Savarkar (1883-1966), especially in
his extreme ideology of nationalism. It was Tilak who recommended the case of
Savarkar for a scholarship to go to London for studies. In London Savarkar was busy
with production of bombs, eventually sending a manual on this subject back to Tilak,
publication of revolutionary pamphlets, books, etc.209. The founder of the RSS,
Keshav Baliram Hedgewar (1889-1940) also came under the influence of Tilak210.
Another prominent RSS leader who was influenced by Tilak was Balkrishna
Shivaram Moonje (1872-1948) the founder of the Bhonsle Military School in
Nasik211. Madhav Kashinath Damley founder of Lokhandi Morcha or Iron Front, a
Fascist movement, was also a follower of Tilak212. Tilak’s thoughts have influenced
the Hindu Mahasabha213, the Jan Sangh214 and the RSS215. The RSS subscribe to
Tilak’s understanding of karma-yoga and the swayamsevaks are advised to read the
Gita regularly216. Krishna Kumar writing about the revival of Hindu nationalism in
India says: “the RSS was a blossom of the vigorous seed of revivalist nationalism that
Tilak had sown”217. Almost all those convicted in the trial of Gandhi murder case had
a connection, past or present with either the Hindu Mahasabha or the RSS and they
were believers in violence.
Many Hindutva ideologues make strenuous effort to popularise the view that the
Hindu gods and goddesses are ‘weapon wielding deities’. In 1966 N.N.Banerjee,
president of the Hindu Mahasabha, on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the
organisation told the Hindus that all their deities, such as, Siva, Vishnu, Durga, Kali,
Kartikeya, Shri Ramachandra, Shri Krishna are warriors and they carry weapons.
Hence Hindus need to realise their significance and should become their dynamic
208
See R.GANDHI, Revenge and Reconciliation, 1,6.
209
210
See BAXTER, The Jana Sangh,3 2. See also H.V. SESHADRI (ed.), Dr.Hedgewar The Epoch-
Maker, 35.
211
See B.G.TILAK, Selected Documents, vol. 2, 207; 216-217; 219-222.
212
See K.ELST, The Saffron Swastika, vol. 1, 497-498.
213
In 1951 N.B.Khare said in his presidential address of the Hindu Mahasabha: “Hindu Sabha
stands for the Tilakite policy or the Gita policy”. N.B.KHARE, Presidential Address (1951), 23.
214
See P.C.SWAIN, Bharatiya Janata Party, 61. See also D.D.PATTANAIK, Hindu Nationalism,
vol.2, 60.
215
P.Kanungo says: “The RSS has certainly borrowed from Tilak the technique of militant
mobilisation to assert and consolidate Hindu identity”. P.KANUNGO, RSS’s Tryst with Politics, 108.
216
See P.KANUNGO, RSS’s Tryst with Politics, 109.
217
See K.KUMAR, “Hindu Revivalism”, 545.
31
worshippers218. Aurobindo reminds us that in the Mahabharata, Krishna says that

God created battle and armour, the sword, the bow and the dagger219.
Describing Goddess Kali, V.S.Naipaul says: “Kali, ‘the black one’, the coal-black
aboriginal goddess, surviving in Hinduism as the emblem of female destructiveness,
garlanded with human skulls, tongue forever out for fresh blood, eternally sacrificed
to but insatiable”220. Ashis Nandy states that Kali is the new symbol of a treacherous
cosmic mother, eager to betray and prone to aggression, fierce, violent, associated
with robbers, thieves, thugs, prostitutes, and in some of her incarnations she was
associated with certain dangerous diseases221. B.Walker says that Kali holds in two of
her hands a sword and a dagger and in the other two are severed heads dripping with
blood. Her long tongue hangs out of her mouth and blood trickles down her chin and
neck as she gorges herself at her cannibal feasts. In one hideous image a headless
Kali holds her own severed head, while the mouth greedily drinks the blood spurting
from her neck222.
Rama of Ramayana is depicted as wielding a bow and arrow. In fact, the symbol of
the Shiv Sena is Ram’s bow and arrow. He is also projected as the national hero of
the Hindu nation223. Hanuman is the monkey-god who served Rama with steadfast
devotion. But he is also a symbol of irrational destruction. He went to Lanka in search
of Sita. Before he left he destroyed everything in sight, razing houses and uprooting
trees as though they were grass until he was captured by Indrajit, son of Ravana. In a
bid to humiliate Hanuman and send him back to Ram, an oil-soaked cloth was tied to
his tail and set alight. But Hanuman, charged through the city and the surrounding
countryside causing untold havoc and burning all the crops with his fiery tail 224.
Today Hanuman is the model for the Bajrang Dal activists – the Indian version of the
Nazi Stormtroopers (SA, Sturmabteilung ‘storming department’). Durga Vahini
218
See N.N.BANERJEE, The Golden Jubilee (1966), 6.
219
See AUROBINDO, India’s Rebirth, 46.
220
V.S.NAIPAUL, India A Wounded Civilisation, 92.
221
See A. NANDY, Bonfire of Creeds, 42, 142.
222
See B.WALKER, Hindu World, vol. 1, 509.
223
A.G.Noorani, in his review article of the book by Manjari Katju entitled Vishva Hindu Parishad
and Indian Politics, reminds us that the traditional depiction of Ram in lithographs has been
accompanied by a mood of tranquillity and serenity, and he rarely assumes an angry disposition.
However, Ram was made a weapon by the VHP all of a sudden in 1984 after the Ekatmata Yagna
years of 1983. It is a political symbol which helps the VHP politically. See A.G.NOORANI, “The BJP
and the VHP”, Frontline, 28 March 2003, 77. (77-78). For similar ideas see also D. SMITH, Hinduism
and Modernity, 41,190-191.
224
See B.WALKER, Hindu World, vol. 1, 425. The same Hanuman foolishly carried the whole
mountain, unable to locate the magical drug Vishalyakarani that he was told to find on the hills for the
treatment of Lakshman’s war wounds. See A. NANDY, Bonfire of Creeds, 138.
32
cadets emulate the Goddess Durga, the demon-killing protective mother225, who is
actually supposed to be the goddess Kali. Many Hindutva ideologues now speak of
militant Hinduism as the ‘Third Eye’ of the Hindu226.
M.M.Ahluwalia maintains that the Hindu revolutionaries were influenced by the
European revolutionaries on the one hand and the militancy of Hindu gods and
goddesses and historical heroes on the other227.
Many Bengali secret societies were inspired by Tilak’s interpretation of the Gita.
The members of the Anushilan Samiti (‘disciplinary organisation’) took an oath of
allegiance to the organisation before an image of Goddess Kali with the
Bhagavadgita in one hand and a revolver in the other228. Aurobindo envisaged karma
yoga as a means of legitimising violence as a form of sacrifice 229. He believed in an
aggressive Hinduism230. According to him open attack, unsparing criticism, the
severest satire, the most wounding irony, are all methods perfectly justifiable and
indispensable in politics231. In 1951 N.C.Chatterjee as president of the Hindu
Mahasabha said: “The greatest task of the Mahasabha is to create Hindu character on
the basis of the Geetha (sic)”. In 1960, V.G.Deshpande in his presidential address of
the 45th Annual Session of the All India Hindu Mahasabha spoke of the need to
resort to guerrilla and mountain warfare232. The karma yoga expounded in the Gita is
practised by the RSS pracharaks (‘preachers’) which is described as a matter of inner
sacrifice. They maintain that action, even when violent, can constitute a means of
renunciation when it is undertaken without regard to personal advantage and in the
service of Hindu nation (rashtra) and Hindu dharma233.
Many Nazis of Germany took inspiration from the Gita. For example, Heinrich
Himmler (1900-1945), the chief of Hitler’s security service (SS, Schutzstaffel =
security guard) constantly carried with him this sacred book, cited from it, compared
Hitler to Lord Krishna and wanted his SS troop to be like the Kshatriya caste of India
which saw war as part of their spirituality234. Savitri Devi (1905-1982) a staunch Nazi
225
226
See G.M.JAGTIANI, Militant Hinduism (“Third Eye” of the Hindu), (1993). Notice the
reference to ‘third eye’.
227
See AHLUWALIA, M.M, Freedom Struggle in India, 324, as cited in D.D.Pattanaik, Hindu
Nationalism, vol.2, 74.
228
See U.MUKHERJEE, Two Great Revolutionaries: R.B.Bose and J.N.Mukherjee, Calcutta, 1966,
17 as cited in C. Jaffrelot, The Hindu nationalist Movement, 35.
229
See C. JAFFRELOT, The Hindu Nationalist Movement, 41 footnote 124.
230
231
232
See V.G.DESHPANDE, Hindu Socialism Explained, 15.
233
See C. JAFFRELOT, The Hindu Nationalist Movement, 40-41.
234
See TRIMONDI, V.– TRIMONDI, V., Hitler, Buddha, Krishna, 26-27,31,83.
33
(popularly known as ‘Hitler’s Priestess’) was the first woman writer who regarded
Adolf Hitler as a divine incarnation equal of Ram and Krishna in the Gita235. She
justified the elimination of millions of Jews in Nazi Germany by quoting from the
Gita. Devi also considered the Schutzstaffel of Hitler as the incarnation of the Indo-
Aryan Kshatriya caste236. According to Victor and Victoria Trimondi, the Gita
spiritualises cruelty (skralisierung der Grausamkeit). All imaginable forms of cruelty
were practised in the fratricidal war described in the Gita. In addition, Hitler
envisaged cruelty as a virtue of the new generation of Nazi youth237.
Writing in the 1960s K.M.Panikkar said that the Gita has become the scripture of
the new age, the main foundation on which its ethic, its social doctrines and even its
political action depends238. The Rama myth is a help to rationalise the aggressiveness
and violence of the Shiv Sena, VHP, BJP, RSS, Bajrang Dal and the Sangh Parivar as
a whole. Rama is the new icon of the anti-Muslim movement in India as was Shivaji
in Tilak’s time. Mahabharata is seen as a scripture of war. The televising of
Ramayana (1987-1989 in 91 weekly episodes) and Mahabharata (1988-1990 in 94
episodes) helped the Hindu masses to imbibe the spirit of violence from their
favourite sacred books, gods and goddesses239. Today, the sacred books of Hinduism
– which are meant to guide the everyday religious code of the Hindus – are often used
to extol violence for a so-called ‘greater cause’. The saffronised NCERT school
textbook of Social Sciences for Class IX extols revolutionaries like Tilak, Aurobindo,
V.D.Savarkar, G.D. Savarkar, Swami Saradhananda, Sister Nivedita, and militant
organisations like Anushilan Samiti (Bengal), Yugantar Party (Bengal, led by
Barindra Ghose brother of Aurobindo Ghose), Abhinav Bharat (in Maharashtra, led
by Savarkar brothers), Baroda Secret Society (Maharashtra), etc.240.
In 1991 the BJP campaigned vigorously for the extension of a Sunday morning
television serial depicting the life of the famous Indian political philosopher,
Chanakya or Kautilya (the word ‘Kautilya’ means ‘crookedness and treachery’) 241,
the reputed author of Arthasastra, a hand book of totalitarian, ruthless and cynical
stagecraft characterised by depravity in standards of morality242. The serial portrayed
235
See N.G.CLARKE, Hitler’s Priestess, 1-6; TRIMONDI, V.– TRIMONDI, V., Hitler, Buddha,
Krishna, 342-360.
236
See TRIMONDI, V.– TRIMONDI, V., Hitler, Buddha, Krishna, 88.
237
See TRIMONDI, V.– TRIMONDI, V., Hitler, Buddha, Krishna, 89.
238
239
According to a popular view, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana revolve around a struggle
betwen good and evil forces. In the former the ‘good’ Pandavas vanquish the ‘bad’ Kauravas in the
Kurushetra war, and in the latter the evil Rakshasas led by Ravana are defeated by Rama.
240
See B.S.PARAKH (ed), Contemporary India, 29-30.
241
242
34
Chanakya’s struggle to assist Chandra Gupta Maurya (320-297 B.C) in ancient India
in a way to suggest its similarities to the struggle waged by the BJP then to seize
political power in New Delhi243. But those who are familiar with the functioning of
the BJP knows that much of its ethics is ‘chanakyan’ where ‘end justifies the means’.
Its ‘India Shining’, ‘Feel Good’, ‘Super Power India’ slogans were founded on
chanakyan cut-throat ethics of lies, crookedness and ruthlessness with the desire to
win 300 seats in the Indian parliament during the general elections of 2004 – a
dubious heritage from Tilak’s ethics of expediency.
Conclusion
The Gita is perhaps the highest expression of the ethical religion of the Hindus. But
Tilak interpreted it in the interest of his political expediency and twisted its message
to justify violence, extremism and militancy. Today, some Hindutva ideologues
consider him as the person who freed the Indian National Congress from the so-called
scourge of moderation244. Tilak selectively cited from the Gita in order to justify his
ethical stand and he believed in the intrinsic goodness of violence. This might be the
reason why he said that politics is a game of worldly people and not of sadhus245.
Tilak’s experiment of combining religion and politics became a model for the
Hindutva ideologues of contemporary India. Communal violence in India today is
frequently and almost ubiquitously justified by using Hindu scriptures, especially the
Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharta. Many interpret them literally, and indulge in the
most eccentric forms violence against their enemies without qualms of conscience.
Arvind Sharma remarks that it was more than a mere curiosity that both Mahatma
Gandhi and his assassin Nathuram Godse swore by the Bhagavadgita – one by its
figurative interpretation and the other by its literal 246. S.C.Sen Gupta observes that the
Gita is patently a call to arms, an exposition of the doctrine of violence when it
becomes a duty247. B.R.Ambedkar, criticising Hinduism and its the tendency towards
violence, observes that the Gita is about the justification of war; Krishna offers a
philosophical defence of war and killing in war248.
243
See K.KUMAR, “Hindu Revivalism”, 555. P.Kanungo observes that the teleserial ‘Chanakya’
(1991-1992), though its theme appeared to be different from the epic serials ‘Ramayana’ and
‘Mahabharata’, in reality it was a mere continuation. See P.KANUNGO, RSS’s Tryst with Politics,
207.
244
See D.D.PATTANAIK, Hindu Nationalism, vol.2, 39.
245
246
See A. SHARMA, “Gandhi or Godse?”, 24.
247
See S.C.S.GUPTA, Swami Vivekananda and Indian Nationalism, 53.
248
See V.RODRIGUES (ed.), The Essential Writings of B.R.Ambedkar, 193.
35
During the rath yatra of L.K.Advani in 1990, in many places the most common
offering was traditional weaponry: arrows, dices, maces, swords, trident and kripans.
At Jetpur in Gujarat 101 kshatriya youths offered him a bowl containing their
blood249. No wonder why V.S.Naipaul says: “I think religion is the greatest curse of
mankind. It has killed more people, destroyed more property, than any other thing”250.
Tilak’s ethics is not for any right thinking person to emulate. All violence is
destructive. Jesus Christ has said: ‘One who takes the sword will perish by the
sword’; ‘blessed are the meek they shall inherit the earth’. There is nothing called
‘good violence’ as such. Can we speak of a ‘good murderer’ or a ‘good terrorist’ or a
‘good rapist’? Violence is the product of diseased minds. Violence can go out of
control especially if it is mob violence since with the mob one cannot any more speak
of rationality and right proportion. Tilak’s ethics of violence which he justifies by
interpreting the Gita provides us another reason to question the claim that Hinduism
is a tolerant religion and that it upholds ahimsa (non-violence). Finally, his
interpretation of the Gita is subjective, distorted, far-fetched, deviant, perverse and
dangerous. The ethics of intrinsic goodness of violence will create anarchy,
intolerance and destruction, as it has been confirmed by the recent past in India.
249
See P.KANUNGO, RSS’s Tryst with Politics, 203. Advani reportedly did not approve of this
gesture and advised them to donate blood in the nearby hospital. See Ibid., 220 note 103.
250
V.S.NAIPAUL, India A Million Mutinies Now, 418.

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BAL GANGADHAR TILAK’S RATIONALISATION OF VIOLENCE

THROUGH THE INTERPRETATION OF THE GITA

A background to Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920)

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born on 23 July 1856 in an orthodox Chitapavan

1. Extremist tradition in India as an underestimated factor

2. Tilak’s commentary on the Gita

2.1 Gita teaches warrior morality

2.2 Rationalisation of violence

2.3 Violence as the higher law

2.4 Arjuna as the model in the use of violence as higher duty

3. Impact of Tilak’s ethics: rise of militant Hinduism and communalism

3.1 Ganesh festivals

3.2 Shivaji festivals

centres of Brahmin activity in the Deccan of Shivaji’s reputed birthday61. According

3.3 Shivaji as a role model for violence as higher duty

3.4 Anti Cow-Killing Societies

3.5 Gymnastic Societies

His Gymnastic Societies sometimes resorted themselves into juvenile bands of

3.6 Extremist journalism

3.7 Militant activities

3.8 Anti-Muslim attitude

3.9 Anti- Christian attitude

3.10 Critical attitude towards Buddhism and Jainism

4. Promotion of Hindu nationalism

5. Claim of the superiority of Hinduism

6. Claims that Hinduism is the most tolerant religion

7. Indoctrination of the young through education

8. A critical evaluation of Tilak’s philosophy

8.1 Subjective interpretation of the Gita

8.2 Divine sanction to violence

8.3 Justification of Hindu militancy

8.4 Ethical relativism and intrinsic goodness of violence

Often violence is motivated and pre-meditated and carefully planned. It is irrational

8.5 Influence on the Hindutva movement

cultural nationalism. Referring to Mahabharata – of which the Gita forms a part –

worshippers218. Aurobindo reminds us that in the Mahabharata, Krishna says that

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